The Abundant Grace Of God: Salvation For All People

Picking up in our month long study of Titus 2:11-14, I want to remind you that we are being exposed to the Abundant Grace of God in this passage.

Read Titus 2:11-14

Last week, we explored The Abundant Grace Of God: The Incarnation. Jesus has appeared!

He is the manifestation of grace and truth

He explains the Father

He offers us a choice to receive or reject Him and His gift of salvation

In the 19th century, a preacher named George Whitfield traveled throughout England and America, sharing the message of salvation through Christ.

He was a preacher for 34 years

In his efforts, he made 13 trips across the Atlantic Ocean (spending about 1.5 - 2 years of his life at sea)

It is estimated that he preached 18,000 formal sermons; with his informal instructions pushing him into the 30,000-40,000 range.

10-23 sermons per week

His passion was so infectious that thousands flocked at once to hear him, including an estimated 25,000 at Boston Common. It is estimated that George Whitfield preached to 10 million people in his lifetime

Whitfield believed that God’s grace was available to everyone, even the most unlikely individuals, and many found hope and a new life in Christ as he preached the gospel.

The truth of the matter is that God’s grace is so jarring, that given the complete context of the matter, you are left dumbfounded by His love expressed through His Son.

Consider:

IN THE BEGINNING, GOD GAVE US GOODNESS

Read Genesis 1:1-2, 31

From nothing to everything in 6 days. And everything was considered very good.

No death, disease, or suffering

No sin or its consequences

Nothing like we can possibly know

IN OUR FAILURE, GOD GIVES US HOPE

Read Genesis 3:6-19, 22-23

From everything being very good to everything being marred by sin.

Sin brings about death and all the bad stuff we experience

James 1:14–15 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Even still, in the midst of the consequences of sin comes hope for us:

Death prevents us from living forever in the consequences of sin

God cut off our access to that horrid possibility, and gives us hope of a future deliverance from the consequences of sin

Romans 8:20–21 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

God promises hope in Genesis 3:15 through the offspring/seed of the woman.

Historically, the offspring/seed is tracked through the man, not the woman (cf. genealogies throughout the Bible)

This unusual wording could indicate that the woman’s offspring would not have an earthly father.

Bruising of the head = a death blow

Bruising of the heel = a temporary wound

IN CHRIST, GOD GIVES US SALVATION

Read Matthew 1:18-25

For hundreds of years, God sent prophets to His people, Israel, to give clues related to the coming of the promised Messiah (i.e. anointed one). One such clue:

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

God promised a miraculous appearance for the one promised since Genesis 3:15.

This is why the angel had to appear to Mary in Luke 1 and Joseph in Matthew 1.

This is also why He chose someone to go and prepare the people for the ministry of the Messiah.

Isaiah 40:3 - promise A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

John 1:23 - John the Baptist (fulfillment) He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.

In the angel’s proclamation to Joseph: Jesus would save His people from their sins. Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s Abundant Grace.

Romans 5:6–8 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16–18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Jesus’ first appearance was not one of judgment, but of saving grace for all who believe in Him. But those who don’t believe will stand condemned before the Lord.

Acts 17:30–31 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.

The day will come when we all will stand before God in judgment and give an accounting of our sin.

In that time, we will either be guilty because of our unbelief or be delivered because of our belief.

None of us will have an excuse and the only hope of deliverance is through Jesus Christ, God’s Son